Factory owners to be prosecuted over explosion deaths

The owners of a Glasgow factory in which nine people died when it exploded in 2004 are to be prosecuted, the Crown Office has confirmed.

ICL Plastics will face action over alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act at the High Court.

As yet, no date has been set for the trial.

Five men and four women were killed and about 30 people injured in the blast in Maryhill on 11 May.

The Crown Office said the decision to prosecute ICL Plastics and ICL Tech followed the submission of a report conducted by the procurator fiscal in Glasgow, Strathclyde Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

The company has been accused of:

Failing to maintain pipes carrying hazardous gas or gases

A failure to ensure the safety of staff

Failing to carry out “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment.

Campbell Downie, the semi-retired chairman of ICL Plastics, told Personnel Today at the time that the accident was like a “mini-9/11″ for the company.

“It’s something you don’t expect, something you never think will happen,” he said.